Girl who died in fire was ‘always laughing’

A 10-year-old girl who died in an apartment fire on Treasure Island over the weekend was a sweet and cheerful honor-roll student, her family said Tuesday.

Cornlina Earlina Godfrey loved going to school at John Muir Elementary in San Francisco, where she was in the fourth grade, and wanted to be a basketball player, said her 18-year-old sister, Cornneisha Godfrey.

“She was always laughing, cheerful,” Godfrey said. “She was the best little sister anyone could have.”

Cornlina died in the fire that started about 12:30 a.m. Saturday in the apartment she shared with two adults and three other children at 1223 Mariner Drive.

Firefighters found the two-story, six-unit building engulfed in flames, said Mindy Talmadge, a San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries when the second floor collapsed.

The fire apparently was accidental, but the cause is not yet known, Talmadge said.

Fourteen adults and 13 children were displaced by the fire, said Pooja Trivedi, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross. The organization has provided them with temporary housing in Oakland.

Catholic Charities CYO is asking for donations to help the families that lost their homes. The nonprofit is also raising money to help Cornlina’s family with the funeral costs, said Jeff Bialik, the charity’s executive director.

All eight of the affected families, including Cornlina’s, were formerly homeless, Bialik said. They are enrolled in the Treasure Island Supportive Housing program, which provides permanent, subsidized housing for homeless families in the island’s former naval base lodgings. Catholic Charities CYO runs the program.

“We’re talking about folks who really are working hard to move toward self-sufficiency and to stabilize their lives,” Bialik said. “This is a major disruption. We can’t expect any family to do this on their own, and these families continue to need our respect and compassion.”

Cornlina was one of 12 siblings, her sister said. While Cornneisha Godfrey struggled to find words to describe their grief, she knew exactly what she would tell Cornlina if she could see her again.

“I’d tell her that I love her — I’d tell her that I love her a lot,” she said. “And that everybody here is going to be OK.”